


can i call you home

by niallszayn



Category: British Actor RPF, One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, Parallel Universes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-29
Updated: 2019-06-29
Packaged: 2020-04-07 05:23:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,967
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19078333
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/niallszayn/pseuds/niallszayn
Summary: niall's been working on building a time machine for years. the first time it actually transports him anywhere, it doesn't turn out as planned.





	can i call you home

**Author's Note:**

> hi! it's been ages since i posted anything so i decided to sign up for this fest and try something completely different. i'm not sure if that try was successful (i would've liked to lean more into the sci-fi elements, but...i'm notoriously short on time. and of all the rarepairs i've written, this is definitely the rarest!) but i hope it's enjoyable!! anyway, niall and tom holland should totally meet.  
> thank you to the mods for organising this fest, and thank you to my camp nano cabin, i wouldn't have finished this without you <3  
> small warning for minor character death (it's off-screen but has a big impact on one of the characters)

“This time it’s gonna work,” Niall thinks as he listens to the now familiar whirring of the cylindrical machine he’s locked himself in. “It  _ has _ to.”

And then it all goes to hell. 

~

Someone is groaning and Niall presses his eyes closed more firmly, annoyed. Who’s making that noise and disturbing him?

His head hurts, and as Niall slowly becomes conscious, he realises several things in quick succession: No one else should be in his flat with him. He wasn’t even in his flat last thing he remembers, he was...in his time machine. The groaning is coming from  _ him _ .

He stops, disoriented and in pain, and hears someone say, “Are you alright?”

Niall opens his eyes - the light stings a little, is he  _ outside _ ? - and sees a worried face hovering above him, the face of…”Spiderman?”

The bloke who looks exactly like that guy playing spiderman frowns down at him. 

“Hey, I think you hit your head pretty hard, mate. I’ll call an ambulance, yeah?”

“No, no,” Niall says, rubbing his forehead and trying to sit up. “I just need to get home.”

“Wait,” the boy says, and Niall suddenly remembers the actors’ name. Tom Holland. Kind of cuter even in real life than in the pictures, which officially makes this situation really embarrassing. “At least come and clean up in my flat a little bit, we’re right in front of it. Wouldn’t want any paps to catch you like this.”

Niall’s not sure what he means, but at least it confirms he was right and this is indeed the actor Tom Holland who doesn’t want any paps to find them like this. So basically Niall hasn’t managed to go sometime else, but he’s clearly traveled some _ where _ else. His head feels dizzier again and he supposes it might not be too bad of an idea to sit in some fancy flat for a bit to try and gather his thoughts. 

“Alright,” he concedes, and lets Tom Holland help him up. 

Niall blinks a couple of times and takes in his surroundings more completely now that he’s standing and not feeling quite as dizzy. This must be some kind of back alley, it definitely doesn’t look like a street a famous actor would live on. He must’ve hit his head quite hard though, because he can’t really focus on his thoughts, they seem to bounce around his head freely with no way to grasp and hold them for longer than a few seconds. Already he doesn’t remember what he was so confused about a minute ago. 

He follows Tom Holland through a door and up two flights of stairs, past simple wooden doors and shabby looking doormats until they’re standing in front of a similar looking door that Tom unlocks. 

Inside is small and kind of similar to Niall’s flat, mismatched furniture, tidy but clearly used, a dog comes scampering their way, and Niall starts feeling dizzy again. Something doesn’t fit here. 

“Oi, don’t faint again,” Tom Holland says, reaching out to steady Niall. “Here, sit down on the couch, yeah? I’ll get you some water.”

He’s back in what seems to be about the time it took Niall to blink once, holding a glass of water. 

“Sorry, it’s just tap water. Probably not what you’re used to but it’s all I have.”

Niall’s accepted that he can’t quite make sense of things right now and takes the offered drink without questioning Tom’s words, drinking the cool water gratefully. 

It helps, and Niall gulps the whole glass down. He’s very tired by the time he gets to the bottom, and it feels like hard work to set the empty glass down beside him. Maybe he should rest his eyes for a few minutes.

When he wakes up, the colours in the flat look different. It takes him a few seconds to piece together that it’s coming from the low sun that’s colouring everything orange. Another few seconds and he’s catalogued the ache in his bones, a feeling as if he’d walked miles the day before. The headache isn’t as splitting anymore as it was earlier, and he can finally start to work out what’s happened to get him here.

Clearly, something went wrong with his time machine. He must’ve gotten at least one component wrong to make him travel to another place instead of back in time. First, he needs to find out where exactly he is so he can get the machine back to his lab and work on fixing this mistake. It’s a huge success that he’s moved at all, and he wishes he felt like celebrating.

What really worries him though is that he was absolutely sure he’d been found by Tom Holland, famous actor. Looking around the flat though, it seems obvious this isn’t the place someone famous would live at. That confusion must be down to him hitting his head, so maybe the first step should be seeing a doctor to make sure he’s not concussed. Also, he needs to find out who his host is, if he’s not Tom Holland.

Slowly, Niall sits up. 

“Oh, hey, you’re up! Was starting to worry I’d have to call an ambulance.”

Shit, he looks  _ exactly  _ like Tom Holland, it’s not a head injury thing, and Niall has to clear this up.

“You probably get this all the time,” he says, “but mate, you look just like that guy Tom Holland.”

His hosts reaction is different from what Niall expected. He blanches and stares at Niall in obvious surprise, or maybe even shock. 

“How...how do you know my name?”

Niall stares back at him. “I’m not sure. Probably because I’ve seen your Spiderman movies?”

“My what?”

Now Niall is completely confused. “I know I’m not making this up, I follow you on Instagram and everything. You play Spiderman! Are you having me on?”

“Are  _ you  _ having me on?” Tom; if that’s who he is; asks back. “What’s Instagram? What’s Spiderman?”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No, swear I’m not!”

Niall pulls his phone from his pocket and presses the button to turn it on. It’s a safety measure that he turns it off whenever he tries using the time machine, but turning it off doesn’t seem to be enough. It boots up, lets out a couple of beeps and notifies him there’s no service, and then it dies.

“That’s your phone?” Tom asks. “Man, you rich people really get all the cool stuff.”

Niall lets out a surprised snort. His phone is neither anything special, nor is he rich. At all. “How’d you get the idea I’m rich?”

“Um, because you’re Niall Horan?”

Now it’s Niall’s turn to be surprised. He never said his name, did he?

“You are, right? You’ve dyed your hair but apart from that you look exactly the same.”

“I...am,” Niall says slowly. “But I haven’t dyed my hair and I really don’t know how you’d know what I look like in the first place.”

“You’re starting to freak me out,” Tom says, and he looks slightly worried. “Is this all because you hit your head? I should get you to a hospital.”

“I’m fine,” Niall protests, “but what the fuck are you on about?  _ I’m  _ the one that’s freaked out because you seem to have forgotten you’re an international film star!”

“That’s because I’m not! But you’re literally a pop star and I’m worried because you clearly don’t remember it and I’m gonna have to figure out how to fix this and where to take you.”

“Either you’re an even better actor than I thought,” Niall says, shaking his head, “or you’re seriously messed up.”

Tom groans and presses his fingers to his forehead. “Let me prove it to you.” He spins around and heads to another corner of the flat, kneeling down to look through something on the floor.

“A-ha!” he says eventually, standing back up with some kind of magazine in his hand. “Look, there you are.”

He hands the magazine to Niall, flipped open in the middle, and Niall freezes. Because there he is, or someone who looks exactly like him, splashed across almost an entire page. His hair is blond instead of the brown Niall sees whenever he looks in the mirror, but it’s eery because the rest looks exactly the same. It’s almost like a weird Snapchat filter, without the face distortion. 

The headline reads “Niall Horan - single again?” and the article below it is as bad and contentless as Niall knows from every tabloid, only it’s filled with his own name.

He considers all of this being an elaborate prank, but who would play it on him? And the only other possibility is - the time time machine. Is it possible he got it all wrong?

“I need to get to my time machine,” he says, and his own voice sounds suddenly far away. What the fuck is going on here?

“Your... _ what _ ?”

Niall tries to think back on where Tom found him. He was outside the time machine for sure, and he doesn’t think he saw it. Then again, he didn’t really look for it, and it can’t have been very far from him. So he has to go back outside and find it to figure out what happened and where he is.

“This is going to sound crazy,” he says to Tom, “but I think I came here from a parallel universe.”

~

It takes a long time to convince Tom that he’s not crazy and to at least let him look for the machine outside. He seems worried that Niall could be a danger to himself or others, and even though he calms down after a while he still insists on accompanying Niall. Which is okay cause Niall’s still not entirely sure he’s not making this whole thing up. 

Outside, they don’t have to search for long. The time machine, or what’s left of it, is lying a bit further down the alley, its metal case dented in a way that doesn’t bode too well for the inside. Carefully, Niall looks inside - the door is halfway pried off and hanging open - and winces when he sees the crack running through the entire machine. That’s gonna be hard to fix.

At least the existence of the wreck proves to himself that it really happened, he really traveled somewhere in his time machine. It’s just that he still has trouble wrapping his head around the parallel universe theory, and it’s surely gonna take much longer to make Tom believe him.

Tom, who’s currently staring at the machine, a stunned look on his face. So maybe it’ll be easier to convince him than Niall feared.

“Can you help me carry it inside? It’s built to be light,” Niall says, and then hurriedly adds, “Unless you want me to fuck off, which I wouldn’t blame you for.”

“Nah, where would you go?” Tom asks, and his eyes are still on the time machine. “You can stay here. Probably safer than someone else recognising you, too.”

“Oh, yeah,” Niall says. “This whole doppelganger thing is gonna be annoying, innit?”

Tom sends him a crooked smile. “Might be. Alright, let’s carry this thing inside then, yeah?”

The machine really is lighter than it looks, and together they manage to lift it without much difficulty. The more difficult part is definitely the stairwell, which is too narrow to comfortably carry the tall metal case upstairs. There’s a lot of cursing and knocking into walls or banisters, but eventually, they’ve squeezed through the door to Tom’s flat and set the machine down in the living room.

It looks almost worse inside, and Niall sighs heavily. “Reckon it’s gonna be a lot of work to get this thing running again.”

Tom is still looking at it curiously. “So you’ve built this yourself? To travel...to another dimension, or whatever?”

“Actually, it was supposed to be a time machine,” Niall admits. “Does that mean you believe me?”

Tom shrugs. “Dunno. Would it be more realistic for you to be Niall Horan’s doppelganger with too much imagination and a metal box?”

Niall laughs. “Good point. Thanks, though. For not, like, admitting me to a psychiatry right away, or whatever.”

“I’ll let you know if I start regretting it,” Tom says. “But for now I’d rather find out how true this whole story is. Natural curiosity, I guess.” He looks at the time machine again. “So you must be really smart then, if you spend your time building time machines, huh?”

“Not that smart, clearly,” Niall says with a wince. “Since I thoroughly messed it up.”

“If you really managed to travel to another universe - which, no one has ever been able to prove even exists - I wouldn’t call it ‘messed up’. Maybe...misdirected, a little bit.”

“Fair enough, that is pretty sick,” Niall admits. “I’ve no idea how to prove anything to you, though, unless I manage to get this thing working again and travel back.”

“For the time being, I believe you,” Tom shrugs, “mainly because it’s better than the alternative. And it would be fucking amazing, to be honest.”

Niall laughs. “It kind of is,” he agrees. “So, I’m a popstar in this world? Am I any good?”

“Well, you...he? This is weird. He’s got like 30 million fans on social media, so I’d say so.”

Niall narrows his eyes. “So you’re not one of them?”

Tom blushes a little and says, slightly evasive, “I mean, I like the music. Anyway, what did you say earlier?  _ I’m  _ famous where you come from?”

“Yeah,” Niall says. “You’re an actor, a pretty successful one. Feel like you’ve been cast in every movie set to come out next year.”

“Go parallel universe me,” Tom says, impressed. 

“What do you do here, then?” Niall says, “Or, like, what do  _ you  _ do? This really is confusing. You’re different people obviously, sorry.”

“Nah, I get it, believe me. I’m a dancer,” Tom explains. “I was in Billy Elliot once, the musical, so maybe I’m a little bit of an actor too, but mostly, I dance. Isn’t it funny, though, how we both have famous other selves?”

“Maybe there’s a universe where we’re both famous,” Niall muses. “Maybe that’s a universe where we actually meet. Like, both our selves from that universe.”

Maybe there’s a universe where Tom isn’t Tom Holland at all, but Peter Parker, and the friendly neighbourhood spiderman. Niall thinks he probably would’ve found that one pretty sexy. Not high school student Peter Parker, obviously, but maybe college-age him. Not like any of the actors playing Spiderman were ever actually school age.

“How many universes do you think there are?” Tom asks. 

“Dunno,” Niall shrugs. “Probably a lot, right?”

“That’s scary to think of though, isn’t it? Like, how did you end up coming to this one out of all of them if there’s more? And how will you figure out how to get back to yours?”

Niall shivers involuntarily. “Haven’t really thought that far ahead, to be honest. It’s a lot to wrap your head around, isn’t it? I still kind of think I’m dreaming.”

Tom nods. “You know, maybe you are. Or I am. Maybe that’s why I just believe some random bloke who appeared out of nowhere outside my house that he travelled from a different dimension, and not just that, but I let him stay at my fucking flat.”

Niall snorts. “Don’t tell your mother, I reckon.”

“Absolutely not. Anyway, are you hungry? I can’t let you get to work on that thing without some dinner first.”

~

Tom has a dog. He brings her home the next day after he comes home from training, and Niall vaguely remembers seeing her the first time he walked into Tom’s flat, but everything from the first few hours after his arrival is hazy in his memory.

“This is Tessa,” Tom introduces them as Niall kneels down to let her sniff him thoroughly. She’s gorgeous, a dark grey Staffordshire Bull Terrier with white markings on her chest and big, friendly eyes. “I took her to a friend’s after you arrived to give you time to, you know, get back to.”

Niall assumes he probably wanted to make sure Niall wasn’t dangerous before bringing his dog into the mix, and he understands. She looks like she wouldn’t hurt a fly, and Niall was a virtual stranger who behaved very worryingly. 

“Hi, Tessa,” he coos, and holds out his hand so she can sniff it before he scratches her ears. She hums deep in her chest and presses her head against his hand to get him to continue.

Tom smiles. “Think she likes you, mate.”

“I love dogs,” Niall says. 

“Me too. I’d definitely get more if I had the time and money, but one’s already stretching things enough as it is. I have to pay a minder for her whenever I’m gone for too long for her to stay here alone for, and let me tell you, those are anything but cheap.”

“At least you’ve got this sweet girl,” Niall says from the floor, still cuddling Tessa. “I always wanted to get a dog but it just never seemed like the right time.”

“Sometimes you just have to take the plunge,” Tom grins. “I can tell you’d be a good dog dad.”

“If you want, I can watch her when you’re away while I’m here,” Niall offers. “It’s the least I can do, as a thank you for letting me stay and all.”

Tom looks down at him. “Alright, sure. Why not?”

~

The days pass quickly at Tom’s flat. Niall mostly stays inside while Tom goes off to work - he doesn’t have regular hours, and a lot of the time he spends away is spent at training as well - and tries to fix his time machine. It’s a lot of taking stock first, trying to figure out what is broken, what can be fixed and what needs to be replaced. He tries figuring out what went wrong with his programming to send him to an entirely wrong direction, but he has trouble getting the computer to start up, so he decides to prioritise the casing of the machine for now.

In between, he takes Tessa out for walks around the park down the road, dressed in a hoodie or wearing a hat to keep people from noticing him and mistaking him for his famous counterpart from this universe. It’s nice to get outside for some air in between, even if he has to keep his head down and tries not to get near other people.

Occasionally, he sends Tom out to get him a few materials, but he tries to make do with what he has. He feels bad enough for staying at Tom’s flat and eating his food already, he doesn’t want to make him pay for much more. Before he leaves he’s definitely gonna have to figure out a way to compensate him for his hospitality. Watching his dog doesn’t feel like enough.

Whenever Tom’s around, he’s curious about Niall’s work and his machine and likes helping out wherever he can. He asks questions about absolutely everything and Niall, who’s used to working alone and thought this kind of thing would be annoying, finds himself enjoying having someone look over his shoulder and asking about what exactly it is he’s doing. 

When Niall decides he’s done for the day and Tom is there, they make dinner or order food and sit down on Tom’s worn out couch that’s been Niall’s bed since he came here. They get along really well for two people from literal different universes, but Niall reckons it’s because their lives in those universes aren’t actually very different at all. He probably wouldn’t know what to talk about to actor Tom Holland and Tom might not have much in common with pop star Niall Horan, but maybe the two famous Them would get along well, too. 

They both play guitar, self-taught, and when Tom convinces Niall to play and sing him something, he claims Niall sounds almost as good as his famous counterpart from this universe. When Niall compliments Tom back after hearing him play and sing, Tom blushes and looks so pleased it makes Niall want to compliment him more often.

“I really don’t know many people who agree with me on golf,” Tom says delightedly after he finds out that Niall plays golf too. “Even though it’s such a great game.”

“Absolutely agree,” Niall says. “It’s just that everyone has this picture of it in their head without ever having given it a try. It can be frustrating, sometimes.”

“Maybe we should play some time,” Tom suggests, then adds hurriedly, “If you can take a break one day, and if you want to, of course.”

“No, a break sounds good, actually,” Niall sighs. He doesn’t want to admit that he’s not sure how to proceed from here, what needs to be done for his time machine to work again the way it did the day he arrived here. He’s fixed the outside to the best of his abilities, but it’s the computer that worries him. Maybe he needs a day out on the green to clear his head and come back to it with a fresh mind. “Really good.”

“Alright, nice,” Tom grins. His eyes crinkle in the corners when he does, Niall can’t help noticing. 

~

The golf club Tom goes to is also pretty similar to the one Niall knows from back home. Sprawling greens not quite as even as the fancy golf courses you see on TV seem, a few trees planted, a few bunkers and a small canal leading into a little lake. The course is smallish with its 9 holes, but he’s also used to that. He likes the familiarity of it, though, likes that he can feel at home here instead of misplaced like he does most of the time.

It’s not even that this universe is completely different from his own one, because it isn’t. Some of the tech doesn’t line up, as far as he can tell this universe seems to be a couple of years behind, and occasionally he’ll notice different slang being used on TV, but mostly, it’s very similar.

What makes him feel like an intruder in this world is the thought that there’s another him walking around already, someone whose hair is blond and who has a lot more money than he can even imagine, but who looks identical apart from the hair, carries the same name and probably has the same parents, maybe even more similarities. The existence of this other Niall Horan kind of makes him feel like he’s not a real person at all.

Out here on this golf course where no one would look for a popstar (or someone who looks like him), with a baseball cap on to make sure no one does, he feels more like himself, more real, than he has in days. 

Still, he sometimes catches himself stopping at the thought of this other Niall’s family. If a parallel universe works the way he imagines, they’ll look the way his family did, his mum, dad, Greg and Denise, and little Theo. They’re out here somewhere, alive and well. The thought stings, but it also starts a yearning in his heart, a longing for them that he can’t quite ignore. Back home, Niall turned into a reclusive scientist after his whole family died, trying to build a time machine to find a way to save them all. And now he’s here, in a universe where they’re all still alive, but they’re not the same people. If he contacted them, they wouldn’t know him. That’s almost worse than not being able to see them at all.

“You alright?” Tom asks, startling Niall from his brooding. “You’ve been very quiet since we got here.”

“Yeah,” Niall says, sending him an apologetic smile. “Sorry, just thinking about stuff. Didn’t mean to bring down the mood.”

“You’re fine,” Tom reassures him. “Do you...wanna talk about it?”

“I’m sure you don’t want to hear my sob story.”

“You look like you need to talk about it, though,” Tom insists. “And since I’m the only person you know…”

Niall snorts. “Compelling argument, that.”

“So, what’s that sob story of yours? Does it have anything to do with why you apparently locked yourself away to build a time machine?”

Niall grimaces. “Am I that easy to read?”

“Dunno,” Tom shrugs. “Just pieced things together, I reckon. We spend quite a lot of time together.”

“Fair enough. Right, well, so my entire family died in a house fire while I was off at uni, so I made it my life goal to build a time machine so I can figure out a way to save them. In short.”

“Oh, shit,” Tom says quietly. “Niall, I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have made you tell me.”

“Nah, you didn’t make me,” Niall says, taking a deep breath and trying to stop fidgeting with his hands. “I’ve never said that out loud, actually.”

Tom reaches out and puts a hand on his shoulder, squeezes lightly. “Well done, mate, it’s important to talk about stuff. But also...I think it’s very admirable and obviously understandable that you want to save them, but you do know it’s not your fault you survived, right?”

Niall crosses his arms, hands shoved under his armpits, and pulls up his shoulders defensively. “I know.”

“Right. Sorry, I don’t wanna make you talk about something you don’t wanna talk about.”

Niall almost feels bad, but he’s never felt comfortable talking about what happened to his family, and he really doesn’t know Tom well enough for that to change.

“Let’s just focus on golf, yeah?” he says quietly, and Tom nods.

“‘Course.”

The uncomfortable moment is soon forgotten when Niall realises that Tom has the exact same kind of enthusiasm for golf that he has. He sees it as soon as they tee off, and it only gets clearer as they go on. They don’t talk much about anything but the game, but it feels like they just sort of...click. 

They play a round that takes them about two hours, and Niall wins it, but only by a small margin. They’re well matched. 

After, they have a pint at the club house. No one looks at Niall twice, he feels relaxed and more comfortable than he has since he’s arrived in this slightly distorted mirror of his own world. 

“Sometimes,” he says, and Tom looks up, attentive, as if he knows what Niall’s about to say. “Sometimes I wonder what would’ve happened if I’d been at home that night.”

“What do you think would’ve happened?” Tom asks calmly. 

“Maybe I could’ve...maybe I would’ve noticed something.”

“Maybe,” Tom says, and he looks the most serious Niall’s ever seen him. “But do you really think you would’ve? If no one else did?”

Niall shrugs, focuses on his fingers moving restlessly against the tabletop in front of him. “Maybe not,” he says, then adds very quietly, “At least I wouldn’t’ve been all alone.”

“I’m sorry,” Tom says. “I’m so sorry that happened to you, Niall.”

Niall hums, unable to look at him. “But you get it, yeah? Why I have to save them?”

“Of course, mate,” Tom says emphatically. “If something like that happened to my family, my little brothers, I’d want to do the same. Do you want to tell me about them, your family?”

They stay at the golf club until it’s late, Niall talks about his mum, his dad, about Greg and Denise and Theo, and Tom listens. It feels good to say their names out loud, to laugh at the stories he tells. Niall hasn’t really talked about them in years. 

It’s a good day, all in all. 

~

After the day at the golf club, something shifts between them. Before, they were involuntary flatmates who happened to get along quite well, but now, Niall feels like there’s a deeper connection. Like they’re actual friends, the kind of friends who talk about everything.

He learns more about Tom every day, his family, his childhood, which foods he likes and which he hates, his hopes and dreams, and shares the same things in turn. It’s nice, it’s comfortable, and at night Niall sometimes lies awake on the couch and worries. 

He’s not had close personal relationships in years, too immersed in his work and eventually so out of touch with everyone there was no going back. So having this now, when all he works towards is getting back to another universe - about as far as you can go, he assumes - is...bad timing, to say the least. Because he could imagine keeping this friendship they have, could imagine coming over to chill on Tom’s couch with a pint on a Friday night, playing a round of golf every now and then. He shouldn’t get used to it, but he can feel exactly that happening. 

He doesn’t know how to change that, how to stop getting attached to the routines they’re developing, and he’s not sure he’d have the strength to change anything even if he knew how to. 

~

Tom has a friend, Harrison, who he talks about a lot. He’s part of most of the stories he tells and often, when Tom gets home late and Niall asks where he was, he’ll explain that he hung out with Harrison. But still, three weeks after Niall basically moved in with Tom, he still hasn’t met the mysterious man. 

In secret, it makes him wonder about the nature of their relationship. What if they’re not just friends and Tom wants to hide from Harrison that he’s found himself a bloke who lives with him? Something about that thought doesn’t sit right with Niall, so it becomes another thing he tries not to think about. 

Until Harrison comes for a visit. He walks in like he owns the place, with his own key, and startles Niall, who thought he’d be alone for the afternoon. He’s bent over the board computer again and looks up when he hears a key in the lock. Tessa jumps up from where she was lying close to Niall and runs to the door, whining. 

The guy who walks in is definitely not Tom - he’s taller, with lighter hair and a more angular face - but he seems at home nonetheless, kicks the door shut in the same motion as he bends down to scratch behind Tessa’s ears. The Staffie pushes closer to him and tries licking his face, and Niall thinks about how long it took her to get to that level of familiarity with him a little jealously. 

Still petting Tessa’s belly, the guy finally looks at Niall. 

“Sorry to barge in on you like this,” he says, getting up and approaching Niall with his hand stretched out. “I just had to find out if this Niall Tom always talks about is real.”

Niall shakes his hand a little dazedly. “I’m real. Tom talks about me?”

“Oh, yeah! Sorry, I’m Harrison by the way. You think he’d let someone who claims to be from another universe stay with him for weeks without ever mentioning it to his best friend?”

Niall can feel himself blushing. “No, I reckon not.”

Harrison’s looking at him and the case of his time machine with scrutiny. Niall gets the feeling he won’t be as easy to convince as Tom was. 

He’s not sure how he feels about the fact that someone else knows about his situation, that Tom told someone without asking him first. He gets it, on one hand, but it feels a little bit like he went behind his back too. Right now isn’t the time to work through that, though, he’s got a sceptic with a lot of influence on Tom to convince that he’s not a nutter. 

“So,” Harrison says, stalking closer to the casing of Niall’s time machine. “This is the famous machine, then?”

“Yeah,” Niall says, “Though the important part is that little computer over there.”

“And when you built it you meant to..?”

“Build a time machine, yeah. I’m still trying to figure out what went wrong.”

“Look, mate,” Harrison starts, frowning at Niall’s computer that right now only looks like a little black box with a crack on its dark screen. “I’m sure you understand that this is all a little hard to believe.”

Niall laughs dryly. “Believe me, most mornings I still wake up thinking it was all a dream.”

“The whole doppelgänger thing is a bit strange, admittedly.” Harrison’s looking at Niall now. “You do look very similar to that singer. The hair throws you off a little bit but I suppose the rest is pretty much the same. Mind you, I think it would’ve taken me a lot longer than Tom to recognise you, but I’m not the kind of fan he is. No offence.”

“None taken, as it’s not my music,” Niall shrugs with a grin, filing away the bit of information that Tom apparently is a fan after all for later. “Listen, I don’t know what to say to make you believe me, I know it sounds fucking nuts. So how about you just ask me whatever you want to know and I’ll try to explain?”

Harrison shrugs. “Alright, yeah. Can you show me the whole thing first? Explain what is what?”

Harrison is as curious as Tom was, wants details and looks at every little button, asks what it’s for. Niall patiently answers every question and lets him look at everything. They both have their heads stuck through the narrow door of the time machine when Tom comes home. 

When they emerge, Tom’s by the door, Tessa at his feet, staring at them incredulously. 

“Haz?” he asks. “What are you doing here?”

“I came to figure out this one’s intentions,” Harrison says, pointing at Niall over his shoulder, who blushes. Why does he have to make it sound like Niall wants to marry Tom?

Tom groans. “I’m so sorry for him, Niall. And I’m sorry he knows about you - one thing I haven’t told you about me is that I’m horrible at keeping secrets.”

“He really is,” Harrison butts in. “Never let him see a film before you, he’ll spoil the ending for you. Unintentionally, most of the time, but it  _ will _ happen.”

“Oh shut up,” Tom huffs, then glances at Niall worriedly. He has a hopeful look in his eyes at the same time, and Niall feels all the resentment that might’ve been left drain out of him. “Niall?”

“It’s alright,” he says, then adds cheekily, “Was getting a bit tired of only seeing your mug all the time anyway.”

Both Tom and Harrison laugh at that, and then Harrison says, “You’re alright, by the way. I still think I shouldn’t believe your story, but somehow I do.”

It’s a bigger relief than Niall cares to admit. 

~

It’s nice having another person to talk to, but Niall quickly finds that he’s more comfortable when he’s spending time with them separately than all three of them together. He spends too much time watching Tom and Harrison interact and trying to figure out what kind of relationship they have. He hates the obsession he seems to have developed with it, and that he cares at all. He has no claim on Tom and should bury the buds of feelings that keep rearing their heads as quickly as possible. It’s not like they have a future, and Tom is all he has in this universe, dramatic as it sounds. It’s much safer to snuff out the little spark. 

He hasn’t even come to a conclusion on Harrison and Tom’s relationship status yet anyway, no matter how much he watches. They’re clearly very close but he doesn’t  _ think _ they’re dating. Niall just isn’t sure if that’s only wishful thinking. 

~

“Hey,” Harrison says one day when he’s keeping Niall company while Tom is at work - a music video for a local musician, this time. “I’m sure you’ve thought of this, and I don’t want to be a downer or whatever, but. If you fix the machine, travel back to your universe, then manage to travel back in time and save your family - won’t that create a paradox? Like, if you save them, your future self won’t have to build the time machine, right?”

Niall stops. In all this time, he’s not considered that possibility, too focused on the goal to think of its consequences. “Fuck,” he mutters. 

“Sorry, mate,” Harrison says guiltily. “I was thinking about that the other night and thought it’d be important to think about.”

“Yeah, it is,” Niall says, angry at himself. Suddenly, he feels completely helpless. 

“Maybe it’ll be fine,” Harrison tries. “Maybe it’ll just create another parallel universe, or something. 

“Maybe,” Niall agrees, sitting down on the couch heavily. “And maybe I’ll unknowingly break the biggest rule of time travel and cause huge damage with it. I never really stopped to think about what would happen after I saved them. I just wanted to get there, you know?”

“Of course, I get it. Let’s not panic though, alright? It’s just one more problem we’ll have to solve.”

“We?”

Harrison rolls his eyes and squeezes Niall’s shoulder. “Yeah. You’ve got us, Tom and me, to back you up the best we can. Haven’t you noticed?”

Niall smiles at him a little shakily, touched by his words and shaken by their realisation. “Thank you.”

~

It doesn’t make things easier, the fear that it might all be for nothing. He tries not to think about it too much, but the worry is there now. The time machine hasn’t worked since the crash, Niall still hasn’t managed to even turn it on. He’s a little scared of where a test run could transport him to, after his last experience, but the way things are looking now, that’s not something he has to worry about. First, he has to figure out what broke in the first place, but the machine is being elusive. 

He’s taken it apart multiple times, cleaned and checked every tiny piece before putting it back together, but he hasn’t found anything that could be the cause. It‘s frustrating, not making any progress, but somehow, Niall‘s not doing the work with the same kind of vigour he used to. 

The worry is holding him back, but so are the friendships he‘s built in this universe, which he finds harder and harder to leave behind with every day that passes.

“You know what’s the worst thing?” he says to Tom one evening on the couch. “That this really isn’t even the hardest part. All I have to do now is get the machine working again so I can travel home. The hard work starts then - figuring out how to actually travel in time.”

“Look at it this way,” Tom says. “The fact that you can travel from one universe to another makes it kinda hard to believe time travel is impossible, right?”

“Well, yeah,” Niall agrees. “Just doesn’t get me any closer to discovering how it works.”

Tom doesn’t say anything, just looks at him for a long time, so long that Niall’s starting to feel uncomfortable. “Listen, Niall,” he says haltingly. “I’m not saying this to get you to stay, or whatever. Even though I’d quite like you to stay, if I’m honest, but that’s beside the point now, I just- I’m worried about you. What if you get that machine to work and it doesn’t take you back to yours but just to another universe? What if you end up in worse universes than this one?”

“I worry about that too,” Niall admits. “Not being able to just reverse the process, dunno. But I can’t stay here. I’m sleeping on your couch, Tom, for fuck’s sake. And all I can give you in return is washing the dishes and watching Tessa while you’re out. It’s not fair to you.”

“And you just decided that without asking me?” Tom asks, sounding cross. He sits up on the sofa and looks at Niall with furrowed brows. Niall can’t help thinking that he looks cute like that. 

“Asking you what?”

“If I thought it was unfair or whatever, if I minded having you sleep on my couch! Because I don’t! I love coming home to you having dinner ready, or to you playing with Tessa, or to you tinkering with your machine. I love watching you work, the way you get so focused and intense. I love our evenings on the couch and talking to you for hours and finding out more and more about each other every day.” He’s breathless at this point, his face very red, and he finishes a little weakly, “Besides, I can only get Haz to play golf with me so many times.”

He stares at Niall once he’s finished, a funny expression on his face that seems half confident and almost defiant, half terrified. Niall looks back for a few seconds, then runs a nervous hand through his hair. His hand drops on the couch between them and Tom follows it with his eyes, before looking back up again.

“What are you waiting for?” he whispers, and Niall laughs a little shakily.

“I have to leave, Tom,” he murmurs, and Tom slides closer on the couch, eyes intense.

“I don’t care,” he says urgently. “I really, really like you, Niall.”

“I’ve tried so hard not to,” Niall says, “I tried to convince myself you and Harrison had a thing.”

Tom lets out a startled laugh at that. “Haz and me? Never!”

“I know,” Niall admits. “But it was easier making you off limits like that than convincing myself it was a bad idea because we’re from different universes.”

Tom groans and rolls his eyes at Niall. “For someone so smart you’re really quite thick sometimes. So can I kiss you now?”

Niall thinks about the first time he saw Tom’s face, almost six weeks ago right after the crash, about all the time they’ve spent together and all the time he’s spent fighting the urge to do just this, and nods.

Tom’s hand is soft but insistent on the back of his neck and Niall follows him easily, watches as Tom’s eyes flutter shut right before he closes his too.

Tom kisses him softly first, carefully, almost reverently, and Niall lets himself fall into it. The time machine, all the things that could go wrong, the uncertain future, everything is forgotten while they sit on Tom’s couch in the fading light, kissing. 

When they finally part, Tom keeps his hand on Niall’s jaw for a moment longer. “Alright?” he asks quietly.

“Yeah,” Niall says and feels the smile spread across his face. “Alright.”

~

Things don’t change too much in Tom’s flat. Niall still watches Tessa, does half the cleaning and more than half the cooking, still waits impatiently for Tom to come home. What does change is that when Tom finds him in the kitchen now, Niall usually ends up pushed against the kitchen counter and kissed so thoroughly he forgets all about dinner, and that he generally gets nothing done when Tom is home, because they’re busy not doing any work. Quickly, he also moves from the couch to Tom’s bed, which is a great relief for his back  _ and  _ his dick. 

After only a few days, Tom tells Harrison, who’s fully in support and, when he comes over for dinner, laughs at Niall even more than Tom did for ever considering there was more between the two of them than friendship.

“We’ve been best friends since we were in diapers, mate,” he laughs. “I can’t look at him like that.”

“Stranger things have happened,” Niall defends himself. “Doesn’t that happen all the time, childhood friends falling in love?”

“Not with us, anyway,” Tom says, and his foot finds Niall’s under the table, nudging lightly like he means to reassure Niall. 

“I’m way too supportive of this whole thing,” Harrison says, waving his free hand between the two of them. “I was basically counting the days until one of you caved to the pressure of that tension between you.”   
“Oh, come off it,” Tom protests, and Niall adds, “As if you knew!”

Harrison snorts. “Neither of you was very subtle with their stares. And you talk about each other so much, it wasn’t hard to connect the dots. Except apparently for you both.”

Niall reaches for Tom’s hand under the table and grins at Harrison cheekily. “And yet we figured it out on our own.”

~

Niall starts going to all of Tom’s shows and appearances, sometimes with Harrison and sometimes by himself, and it’s only then that he realises how much Tom really works. He’s in a dance troupe at the theatre that does regular shows and supports the theatre group during their shows when needed, but he also tries to make a name for himself by dancing in other theatres, in musicals, in music videos, and even, when someone hires him, as a tour dancer for popstars. Besides all that, he also teaches ballet to the Under 5s, which is definitely the sweetest thing Niall’s ever seen. And all of that still takes up less time than his training does.

No one ever seems to look twice at Niall, which isn’t what he expected at all, but definitely a nice surprise.

“It’s probably the beard,” Tom says, then suddenly straddles Niall where he’s sitting on the couch. He reaches out to rub a hand along the scruff on Niall’s jaw, grinning down at him. “That plus the dark hair. Don’t think the singer could even grow a beard like this.”

“That’s mostly why I’ve been growing it,” Niall says. “A good disguise.”

Tom huffs, then leans in to kiss along Niall’s jaw and neck. Niall groans a little and drops his head back against the headrest and tightens his grip on Tom’s waist.

“Don’t care about the disguise,” Tom says against this skin. “Fucking sexy is what it is.”

And, well, it’s not like Niall’s gonna complain about that.

~

Being out and about and this involved in Tom’s life, Niall even starts thinking about asking Tom to meet his family. He talks about his brothers so much, his parents, that Niall feels bad for making Tom keep such a big secret from them. He hasn’t thought about the replicas of his own family that live somewhere in this universe in a long time. 

It’s a cruel twist of fate that, just as things are going so well for him in this universe, the computer of his time machine turns on for the first time since the crash landing.

Tom’s not there when it happens, so he doesn’t see how Niall sits down on the floor, overwhelmed by the conflicting rush of emotions hitting him. He sits there for a long time, looking at the glowing light coming from the screen, and thinks. 

Eventually, he decides that he doesn’t have to make any final decisions yet. There is a lot of data to analyse first, the bulk of the work is probably still ahead of him. Maybe the results will solve his dilemma, and if they don’t - he can still rack his brains then. He makes sure to keep his computer off around Tom though, only letting it run its calculations and recovery programs whenever he’s away. He feels bad for hiding the development from Tom, but it makes it so much easier to put off making a decision. 

And then, one day in the audience of a musical Tom’s dancing in, Harrison says something to Niall that changes everything. He clearly doesn’t even realise it, it’s just a small sentence thrown into the conversation, but it hits Niall like a brick.

Harrison says, “It’s perfect, innit? Tom crushes on a popstar for years and then he gets his very own version of him literally teleported onto his doorstep. Like a fucking romantic film.”

He keeps talking afterwards until the curtain lifts, but Niall doesn’t take in a word of it. The fact that Tom had a crush on his famous self from this universe is vital information that Niall was missing, and the knowledge makes him feel sick.  _ It’s perfect, innit?  _ For Tom, yeah. For Niall, absolutely not. He’s a stand-in for someone who looks a lot like him, that’s all. Tom doesn’t like him for  _ him _ , just for who he resembles. Living with him now is probably very close to what Tom used to daydream about, and Niall hates how used it makes him feel.

He has to leave. For good.

“I don’t feel well,” he whispers to Harrison, who looks at him worriedly. “Think I’m just gonna go home.”

He must look terrible, because Harrison accepts his excuse immediately and even offers to accompany him, which Niall declines.

“Feel better,” Harrison says, and Niall feels suddenly sad about leaving him behind.

“Thank you,” he says sincerely, “for everything.”

Harrison looks confused, but Niall gets up before he can ask for clarification.

On the way back to Tom’s flat, Niall has to fight the tears. “I’m gonna go home,” he said to Harrison, and he meant it, he’s come to think of the small flat as  _ home _ . But it’s not his home, never was, and he shouldn’t have let things go this far.

His computer has finished running its last calculations when Niall gets back. He’s done no test runs, and it’ll be risky, but if he’s quick enough, he can reverse the program and travel back to his own universe before Tom gets home. He’ll leave a note so Tom will know what happened, but he can’t talk to him. The way he’s feeling now, he’d probably cry, and that’s not the last memory he wants Tom to have of him.

So he gets to work, places the computer back in the machine and connects the parts, listens to the familiar whirring as it comes back to life. He feels shaky and nervous, but he needs to do this. It was a mistake getting attached to this universe and its people, he has no future here anyway, and he needs to go back home and save his family. It’s what he’s worked towards for six years, he’s given up everything for that purpose. It’s what’s right.

It takes him longer than he’d like to set everything up and configure the program, but eventually, the computer gives him green light. Niall’s hands shake as he takes a last look around Tom’s flat that’s become so familiar to him over the past months. Tessa looks at him from where she’s lying with sad puppy eyes and whines, as if she knows what he’s about to do.

“I’m sorry,” Niall murmurs and kisses her soft forehead while he scratches her ears. “I’ll miss you, girl.”

He’s written a note to Tom while he waited, explaining that he had to leave while he still could, that he can’t give up on his family, that’s he’s sorry. That he wishes Tom all the best, that he’s grateful for everything he’s done for him. 

It feels a little like his heart is breaking when he puts the note down on the table for Tom to find, which is ridiculous because they’ve only known each other for a little over two months. 

“Get it together,” he tells himself, then takes a deep breath and steps into the machine.

“What are you doing?”

Niall bangs his knee painfully against the metal casing as he spins around to find Tom standing in the open door to his flat, betrayal written on his face.

“Tom…” he starts weakly.

“You were gonna leave? Without even saying goodbye? I didn’t even know you’d gotten your fucking machine to work again.”

“I couldn’t tell you,” Niall says. “I wanted to, but I knew you’d try to talk me out of it.”

“You’re damn right I would’ve!”

“I have to leave,” Niall tries to explain. “I’m sorry, but it feels like giving up on my family if I don’t. I have to try and save them.”

Tom finally closes the door behind himself and comes closer, sighing. “Listen, Niall. I’m saying this because I care about you. You’re not giving up on anyone, ‘cause there’s nothing you can do.”

Something heavy drops to the bottom of Niall’s stomach. “What are you saying?”

“I’ve thought about it a lot. I’ve talked to Harrison, we’ve both done our research. Niall, you can’t change the past, you can’t save your family. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t know that,” Niall protests, anxiously picking on his cuticles. 

Tom looks frustrated now, and his voice rises while he speaks. “Yes I do! Literally every scientist who’s researched time travel says that it’s impossible to change the past because it’s already happened! If something changed in the past, your future self wouldn’t even get there to change it, it’s impossible, Niall! You’re so fucking smart but you don’t want to understand that, you just close your eyes to all the facts to hang on to this obsession of yours! It’s shit that your family died, it’s so fucking unfair, but that’s life, you can’t do anything against that. I’m so sorry you had to go through all that, but you need to...fuck, you need to work past your issues. Stop lying to yourself! There’s nothing you can do to save them! I’m sorry, but someone has to tell you that, so it gets through to you.”

“Who do you think you are,” Niall says tonelessly, “to talk to me like that.”

“Someone who cares!” Tom yells. “God, Niall, don’t you get it? You’re only setting yourself up for misery, I wish you’d understand that! You need to accept that your family is gone for good so you can grieve and eventually heal. What you’re doing is unhealthy, and it’s been isolating you for years!”

“It’s my decision!” Niall is yelling too, now. “It’s my decision to at least try!”

“You’re killing yourself, don’t you see that? If you leave now and continue this way, slowly but surely, you’ll fade away. I’m not saying you can’t go back to your own universe, even if I personally don’t want you to. That’s your decision alone, but you need to open up to someone. You need people around you who care about you, you need a life! If you really want to, I’ll let you leave, but please, Niall, stop this madness.”

“It’s all I have,” Niall says quietly, sadly. “What you call madness, my work, that’s all I have.”

“You really don’t get it, do you?” Tom asks, and he just looks defeated now. Niall’s heart aches uncomfortably. “I love you, you idiot. You’d have me, if you only wanted.”

“You don’t really love me, though,” Niall says, his voice sounding hoarse around the lump in his throat. “You  might love the idea you have of me, or rather me as the closest thing to the other Niall Horan, the famous one. You say I’m lying to myself, but I say  _ you  _ are. I’m not him, and you don’t really love me.”

Tom stares at him, and he looks so incredulous Niall suddenly wavers. “You’re a fucking idiot,” he says. “If you really believe I could have lived with you for over two months and not have fallen for  _ you _ . I’m fighting for you here, and you’re still lying to yourself, maybe there’s nothing more I can do.”

He turns around and leaves the flat without looking back, the door swings shut behind him. Niall watches him leave, tears blurring his vision, but he doesn’t follow. 

“Fuck,” he mumbles, wipes his eyes and gets back into the machine. He’s made up his mind, how can Tom expect him to give up on everything now? Still, the doubts are there again, insistent now. He’s pushed them away for months, years maybe - ignored every insinuation to the point where other research didn’t even exist to him anymore.

Maybe Tom is right, and he’s lied to himself so thoroughly because he’s refused to accept what happened to his whole family. Niall sinks to the floor in his cramped machine and buries his face in his hands.

Years of repressed feelings seem to crash over him like a wave, and he feels overwhelmed by it all. Tom is right about everything, and Niall was wrong. Suddenly, he sees everything more clearly than he ever has; what his life has been like for the past few years, all the things he’s done wrong - and that he can’t leave this universe, can’t leave Tom. He sees now that Tom meant what he said, that he was being honest about falling for Niall, the Niall he’s been living with. And he knows that he loves him too, even though that was another thing he tried to deny himself.

_ “You’re a fucking idiot,”  _ Tom had said, and Niall suddenly agrees. 

“Fuck,” he says again, louder now, and pushes himself up off the floor. He’s got to find Tom. 

He runs down the stairs so quickly he almost falls once or twice, crashing into the door downstairs before wrenching it open. Outside, he hesitates for a second before running down the street to the park, hoping that Tom went this way as well.

He knows Tom likes being outside, surrounded by nature, when he’s upset, and the park is the closest thing to that they’ve got near the flat. 

“Tom!” he calls out as he enters the park, looking around wildly. “Tom!”

A figure almost on the other side of the park stops walking, and Niall starts running again. It’s Tom, he recognises him even from this far away, and Niall runs all the way until he gets to him, ignoring the stinging it causes in his knee.

“I thought you’d be gone by now,” Tom says when Niall stops in front of him, trying to catch his breath, and there’s a hopeful tint to his voice.

“You were right,” Niall gasps, “About everything. I’m a fucking idiot, and I’m sorry. And I love you, too.”

Tom gives a short laugh, startled. “Yeah? So...you’re not leaving?”

“No,” Niall says, a little less out of breath now. “I think I might need someone to work through my grief with me, and I know this bloke who’s really in touch with his emotions, and mine, apparently.”

Tom smiles a little, still hesitant. “You sure it’s what you want to do though? I mean, it  _ is  _ a different universe and all.”

“Yeah,” Niall says. “There wasn’t much keeping me back in my own one, was there? But here, with you...it already feels like home more than my real home has in years, cheesy as that sounds. I know there’s a lot to, like, figure out still, but we can do that later, yeah? If you’ll have me, that is.” He reaches out to tug on Tom’s shirt lightly. “Forgive me?”

“For what?” Tom asks, confused.

“For being stupid, for what I said to you, for putting you through this whole mess.”

Tom smiles, shakes his head. His fingers are soft when he wipes the leftover tears from Niall’s cheeks. “All forgiven. And of course I’ll have you, you idiot, I thought I made that clear! Now, that other thing you said…”

“I love you,” Niall says again, and this time, Tom’s laugh rings out clear and happy. “Sorry it took me this long to figure it out.”

Tom shrugs a little, gives him a crooked grin. “We’ve got all the time in the world now, right?”

“All the time,” Niall promises. “But for now, please finally kiss me.”

And Tom does.  
  
  



End file.
